In one conventional computing arrangement, a network input/output (I/O) device in a first host computer receives packets from a second host computer. The device stores the received packets in host memory in the first host computer. A communication protocol stack executed by a host central processing unit (CPU) in the first host computer processes the packets' headers and copies the packets' payloads to user space in the memory. An application executed by the CPU processes the payloads and transmits data from the payloads to one or more I/O devices of the first host computer. Such I/O devices may include host storage, audio, and/or display devices.
The above type of packet processing comprises a significant number of operations involved in transferring and copying packet data to and from memory in the first host computer. These operations may impose an undesirably large amount of CPU processing overhead, consume an undesirably large amount of CPU processing bandwidth, reduce the CPU's performance, and increase the CPU's power consumption and heat generation. Furthermore, these operations may result in the first host computer's actual packet processing throughput being significantly lower than the network's data transfer rate.
In other conventional arrangement, the network I/O device executes a complete copy of the communication protocol stack so as to permit all of the communication protocol stack's processing to be offloaded from the CPU to the network I/O device. Unfortunately, this conventional arrangement significantly increases the cost of the first host computer.
In yet another conventional arrangement, the stack is modified to reduce the CPU's processing burden. Unfortunately, the modifications made to the stack may result in protocol, technological ecosystem, and operating system compatibility problems.
Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments, many alternatives, modifications, and variations thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is intended that the claimed subject matter be viewed broadly.